Management

Management

The following information on the Traditional Resource Management (TRM) red cedar was provided by Lynn Youngbuck, who is Cherokee, Chiracahua, and Fox. TRM includes the following:

Take only what you need, leaving the best to reproduce.

Speak to the plant, leave an offering of tobacco or sage before harvesting. The plant will grow back two stems for every one cut.

Humans are another strand in life. Plants sustain us and should be treated as another living being.

Plants were taken care of by extended family groups of women. They were taken care of and watched each year for generations.

Materials harvested were shared and traded with the whole tribe.

Cedar bark was harvested in early June or early July as the bark is more easily removed at that season (Densmore 1974). The gathering of cedar bark was attended with a simple ceremony, followed by a feast. The next day the tree was cut. The bark was removed, and the tree was permitted to remain as it fell, and when thoroughly, dry was used for fuel.